This is another pedagogical model that can be applied. Living in an era of game culture, it is the main environment surrounding primary students daily. Most students are already engaged in it at home and outside of class. Squire suggests “As digital media becomes more pervasive in children’s lives, this opportunity is becoming a necessity; while schools remained shackled to literacies of print, media like video games offer pedagogies of interactivity” (p. 3).They are either playing games like Flappy Bird on their phones or playing games on their computer. Students can improve social, cognitive and soft skills by engaging in a context outside of their own personal world involved in a narrative or journey. Therefore, teachers need to see how games can be used to improve learning academically. Moreover, Squire argues, “It is critical that educators see beyond simply the representations in games (or on box covers) and examine how game worlds themselves are experienced” (p. 11). So game-based learning is about bringing gaming content as pedagogy to enhance, instruct and provide a space for students to learn in an engaging manner.Game that connects well with curriculum:Turtlediary.com focuses on the educational needs of kids ranging from kindergarten to grade 5. They have created games to teach various subjects to kids. My purpose is to use this platform for numeration activities. Students can go online at anytime for free and have access to their subject areas and grade levels. Furthermore, Turtle Diary is appropriate for the pedagogical problems surrounding instructions, as it provides video instructions, games, and practice activities to enhance student learning of whole numbers. [1] Squire, K., & Jenkins, H. (2011). Video games and learning. New York: Teachers College Press[2]Turtle Diary (homepage). Information retrieved from: http://www.turtlediary.com/math-games.html

Hip hop is deemed as leisure and fun outside of the classroom, it can take place in a club or in the hood or projects. But what about in lessons or in the classroom? Recently, I was in downtown and I noticed a Caribana carnival was present. Seeing people in the core of downtown , Toronto involved in wearing beautiful dresses, elegant dances, and great reggae music. I realized how powerful and motivating it can be for everyone to peacefully and respectfully be participating. Hip hop is great lens for analysing sex, drug s, violence and it can help teachers assist at risk youth with the type of media which influences or even persuades them. De Leon argues “Hip Hop is the dominant language of youth culture, and those of us who work with young people need to speak to them in their language (p.1). Since it is one of the “most influential cultures” in the world according to some, it makes sense for teachers to immerse themselves with common themes and try to use them for instructional strategies in discussing social justice issues. Since Hip hope has many different genres and subcategories such as “Deejaying, break dancing, remixing, rap etc.”, educators can take these main themes of hip hop and do programs that speak about racism or stereotyping of minorities.This way educators and students can illuminate their communities with rich music, dance and hands on activities. Just like Freire and Akom, I think that critical pedagogy can be applied to Hip hop in order for youth to understand how mainstream hip hop has shaped them in society. Students can also try to recycle and reuse hip hop to improve on social and political inequalities. Akom, A. (2009). Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy as a Form of Liberatory Praxis. Equity & Excellence In Education, 42(1), 52-66. doi:10.1080/10665680802612519Emery Petchauer, “Starting With Style: Toward a Second Wave of Hip-Hop Education Research and Practice,” Urban Education 2015, Vol. 50(1), pp. 78–105

Many times I reflect on how students can use television shows as a means of learning social studies. Television shows can be a relevant and meaningful method of instructing students; students identify with pop culture and are seen as being more in tune with what is going on in today’s society. Using Star Trek as a medium to allow students to interpret the future or the ‘invisible’ with inquiry based learning at the center can be a great way to do this. This is a great medium to get students actively participating in topics such as family relationships, friendships, and dealing with bullying.

Star Trek has been around for some time, in various incarnations, and there have been many struggles that Star Trek characters had to go through. These struggles ranged from racial, political, and social problem. For example, observing the conflicts between the hero and villain or saving the planet represents powerful symbols; these symbols can be extrapolated to things in a student’s life. Despite these aforementioned advantages, Star Trek has a few drawbacks. Some of the scenes may not be suitable for children, especially those that contain violence, sex, and strong language.

On the bright side…

Star Trek presents a unique way of introducing multiculturalism. Star Trek’s crew ranges in their culture and backgrounds; even being a trailblazer in fighting against racism. More prominently, though, is that Star Trek has a mix between aliens and humans that may have conflicts. These two points, a diverse cabin crew, and the alien interactions, can be used as a point of reference to the beauty of cultural diversity and how this plays a role in our community. Discussions surrounding race, gender, and equality can also play a role in the class using Star Trek as pedagogy.

Using Star Trek as a means to teach science and technology and its impact on our lives allows students to connect between inside and outside of the classroom. They will result in motivating students to learn more about social studies content. A common thread to include this as a form of pedagogy as well in the primary grades especially is to increase student literacy in science and technology. Being a digital citizen involves manipulation and sharing of digital tools, students can visualise this by critically thinking about Star Trek and how they use technology to run and support their way of life.

Practise - Connections Made To Science

The use of teleportation in the Star Trek series is a prominent part of the show. The show envisions teleporting technology, which is able to reversibly convert matter into energy, as a quick way of transporting people. Using this as a hook for a lesson in science about matter for primary grades can enhance and push student thinking about concepts of matter

oAlison Happel-Parkins and Jennifer Esposito's article, "Using Popular Culture Texts in the Classroom to Interrogate Issues of Gender Transgression Related Bullying," examineshow educators can use popular culture in order to speak about genderroles, perceptions , and social construction in the classroom”( p.1).After reading this article, I realized how fast society is changing and it can define and demine the roles of people based on class. I am going to discuss the way games are used to be very anti-feminist. In a recent article conducted by Karen.E.Dill, almost “40 % of the games that were played portrayed men more aggressive than women. In addition 60 % of the female characters were more sexualized than male characters”(p.2). This way the media is able to create a socialized system that creates sexism and makes children and the gamers perceive this image to be fine and normal.I think as educators it’s important to use games or even horror films to assist students with the critical thinking element of gender roles and social construction of heroic figures. Also, It is important to treat everyone equally or having equity in the classroom. The importance of discussion and getting students to show “respect” is key. A few steps to ensure that respect is given and taken in the class is to teach what respect means and how it’s important to keep the classroom united. Bullying anyone based on gender, race, and culture is something that can be solved after looking into the media that supports such aggression and having an open dialogue with students about the authors intent.oHappel-Parkins, A., & Esposito, J. (2015). Using Popular Culture Texts in the Classroom to Interrogate Issues of Gender Transgression Related Bullying. Educational Studies, 51, 3-16. DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2014.983638Karen E. Dill & Kathryn P. Thill(2007) Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People’s Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions. Springer science and media, 57:851–864 DOI 10.1007/s11199-007-9278-1

Teaching through films can allow us to explore the unknown and misjudge sometimes as well. The imagery and representation within films have powerful symbolic meaning. Labeling others for example is something I have seen is common, My students in grade 2 are able to watch movies and think of real life examples that they assume represent the dark side with Darth Vader versus Obie wan Kenobi. I remember asking my students of real life examples who have similar traits to these characters.One student commented “Darth Vader” is like North Korean prime minister Kim Jong, so when I asked him why. He told me that Darth Vader doesn’t respect life and likewise Kim Jong. The whole class was appalled at this interpretation and connection to real life that this particular pupil made in the class. Here is where I noticed the impact of today’s media and popular culture in labeling other nations and people. I find it a challenge sometimes to balance instruction when explaining world politics and international relationships (through social studies) with such a multi-cultural group of students. Though we are united under the Canadian identity, students can quickly label others just as the films do with the aliens or the dark force.I think that a good way to connect International relations with films is to allow students to conduct a pen pal activity with students from other countries “other” and try to reach out to them and learn about other cultures and societies in order to break the mindset of “being dominant over the other”. I find though that the critical pedagogy, as mentioned by Freire, integrated with popular media like (films,tv,dvd) can actually give students the ability to become aware of how it’s important to read “across and within text” in order to bring out the implicit meaning within film and examine it to make learning meaningful and connected to student lives.I would rather use film pedagogy instead of traditional textbooks because of the powerful graphics and strong debates films can create in the classroom. The visual appealing and 3d graphics and technological advances that dramatize concepts of history and social studies always get students thinking deeper through discussions. Students tell me in the class that they see themselves driving in mid-air using hovercrafts and rocket ships, they are already living in that future and see the present school world far behind. The final thing is I think I need to work with my students more in looking at historical events and seeing whether or not films inaccurately depict events in the past and how or why films do this?

After reading the article If Ideas were fashion, David Wong & Danah Henriksen,attempt to use elements of fashion as a pedagogical approach to making learning of content (substance) meaningful and engaging in the learner’s lives. I noticed in the article that looking through the lens of fashion was appealing not only because of the imagination but the constant modification of ideas or fashion. For example, In order to get consumers to “consume” the product and find content appealing. Designers use their imagination and consumer interest as a base to start and then supplement with effective images, provocative text, and consumer evaluation to transform the experience from imagination into reality. Using the framework mentioned by pragmatic theorists such as Dewey further solidifies the experiential framework for learning. He mentions “, transformative experiences emerges from exploring the imaginative bridge between the actual and the possible (Dewey, 1934; Jackson, 1998).” In essence Dewey’s explanation highlights a strong connection between the present and the future experiences of learners. I remember having my students conduct a selling perfume project. Students were acting entrepreneurs designing logos and creating images with catchy phrases for their products .Students were engaged because they were given the opportunity to use this project to make learning more personalized and have a firsthand experience to market their products. They can use these skills in the real world outside of the class when buying or selling their ideas. I also remember students giving each other feedback about the slogans they were using and how they (the audience) interpreted the logos, images and texts. Some of the challenges for me in the class would be the time required to use this approach as well as the students who always require structure in classroom activities. As simple as it may sound sometimes, having other board members not being open to such a approach and who kill student creativity by feeding students the traditional way of drills and rigid rubric can be a uphill battle.If I can weave the elements of fashion properly when scaffolding lessons, the experience of learners will transform from traditional to authentic tasks.